SATURDAY, MAY 04, 2024
Nehru forgot his promise made to Goans
In the article titled ‘Elections, Identity and a Pioneer’ in the
O Heraldo edition dated April 21, Sushila Sawant Mendes wrote: “When Goa was Liberated, Goa accepted to be part of India, rejecting a third current of remaining independent.”
This begs the question: How exactly did Goa reject the third option?
The writer has failed to state as to who gave Goa the opportunity to express its opinion on the important question whether Goa wanted to merge with India or whether it opted for Independence, a mandatory requirement of the United Nations for all colonies.
India was a signatory to all those resolutions in that august body. The bland statement by the writer that “Goa accepted to be part of India, rejecting the third current of remaining independent” is a pure fiction and very misleading. It is to be borne in mind that late Jawaharlal Nehru had earlier, before 1961, announced repeatedly, from within the Indian Parliament as well as from outside it, that Goa would not be forced to join the Indian Union and that they would decide that question freely, but that his only wish was to have Portugal out of the Indian subcontinent.
These promises were conveniently forgotten by him after December 19, 1961, to the extent that when a delegation of Goans from East Africa met him and asked him to hold a plebiscite in Goa, he reportedly told them: “I don't know what you are talking about.”
He not only forgot his promise made to Goans, but also that India was a signatory to the United Nations resolutions mandating such a step as was done, a few years later with East Timor, another Portuguese colony forcibly invaded and annexed by Indonesia.
Antonio Lobo, by email
Thorough check of KA infra needed
Just a day after Panjim recorded the unseasonal rainfall, the recently renovated and partially opened Kala Academy had infrastructural issues yet again as a portion of the false ceiling collapsed early Monday morning.
The Dinanath Mangeshkar Auditorium also reportedly suffered leaks from the roof top, which has raised questions about the overall quality of the renovation work.
With this development, the blame-game has commenced in right earnest. In this quagmire, no one seems to own the responsibility, as the buck is being passed from one government department to the other.
Be that as it may, with the entire monsoon season in front of us, this incident seems just a trailer.
It may be recalled that the iconic structure witnessed the collapse of the open auditorium’s rooftop in July 2023. It is learnt that crores of public funds have been utilised for the renovation of the prestigious centre of art.
With this development, visiting the centre of art to witness various programmes could put the lives of the general public in jeopardy. It is necessary to carry out a thorough check of all the renovation works that have been carried out for the structure’s stability.
The services of the students of Goa Engineering College (GEC) could be utilised for the same and the report submitted to the government before the Kala Academy is made completely functional.
Adelmo Fernandes, Vasco
Judiciary is the only hope for Goans
The demolition of illegal structures at Sangolda on Comunidade land happened only after the High Court gave a time limit to the government for the same. We see in Goa that illegalities flourish everywhere. Be it illegal buildings especially in coastal areas, CRZ violations, illegal encroachments on prime government and comunidade land, etc, government authorities especially revenue authorities like Collector, Deputy Collector and Mamlatdars seem to have forgotten their duties.
Their inaction may bring in a situation where in these revenue officers would be stripped of their quasi judicial powers.
For any common Goan who wants to seek recourse against illegalities, the High Court is the only hope.
Sadanand Raikar, Colva
Lessons from Dubai rains
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) was pounded by thunderstorms and incessant rains last week. For a city, receiving less than 100 mm rainfall on average in a year, the extremely heavy downpour was unusual to say the least. Drawing in of warm and moist air due to cut-off low pressure is blamed for the Gulf city being battered by 256 mm rainfall within 24 hours.
Of course, experts are quick to blame global warming. The more the warm air, more is its capacity to hold moisture, resulting in severity of rain, they aver. Seen in the backdrop of increasing human activities leading to air pollution, this explanation seems just and rationale.
However, needle of suspicion is also pointed towards ‘cloud seeding’ that is injecting the clouds with chemicals like sodium iodide to condense the water vapour into rains.
Notwithstanding the fact that Dubai has a history of employing cloud seeding for effecting rainfall to counter water shortages, experts are ruling out this possibility citing a strong weather forecast that was made about the thunderstorm possibility.
Parched countries like the UAE have to put in place robust mechanism to prevent floods following torrential rains.
These countries are paying heavily for ineffective drainage systems and little green space to help seep the rainwater. They would do well to plan strategies to redirect heavy rain water in exigencies.
Ganapathi Bhat, Akola
Is every place on Earth a dumping yard?
Another World Earth Day has passed us by on April 22. So, what was so great about that day, what did we achieve, what difference did it make to anybody on this earth? Well, two pictures in your newspaper tell the story.
The picture on your front page shows a man walking on a beach littered with plastic and other waste material at Badhwar Park in Mumbai. What a colourful sight of plastics but a gory and disgusting sight.
The second picture is of rag- pickers sorting out waste at a large dump somewhere in Guwahati, Assam.
At the end of the day, the message seems to be lost on most of us. We would continue to fill the Earth with plastics and other waste material as if every place on Earth is a dumping yard whether it is the sea, river, nullah, open space and whatever. And, then we will continue to have scavengers at such sites looking to make a living.
World Earth Day and World Environment Day are just days in the calendar!
Melville X D'Souza, Mumbai
India gripped by heat wave
India is gripped by a punishing heat wave. What is most alarming about this heat wave is that the effects of global warming have pushed India and its neighbouring countries to the levels where the climate is a core threat to human health.
Heat waves around the world have been made more common and hotter because of climate change, according to Friederike Otto, a climatologist at the University of Oxford. Otto adds that the heat waves will continue to get hotter until humans stop burning fossil fuels.
Experts say that before climate change such intensity of heat would have only been seen about once in every 50 years in India. However, it is now expected to occur once every four years. Heat waves have led to cascading impacts not just on human health, but also on ecosystems like agriculture, water and energy supplies.
Experts say that climate change can definitely be controlled, which will involve a substantial reduction in fossil fuel use, improved energy efficiency, and use of alternative fuels such as hydrogen.
Ranganathan Sivakumar, Chennai
